Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein Castles

Guess what was for dinner last night? Oh just pizza. I guess the hostel only has nightly specials. So yesterday, all I ate was pizza and pretzels. I did get the veggie pizza for dinner though. I wish I could have saved the second half of it for lunch today. They gave me a whole pizza for €5.90. Pizzas here are much smaller than in America. Two European slices equal one American slice. It was good even though I had eaten pizza for lunch as well.

The Sound of Music was even more amazing after having seen all the sites. I feel like I'm really in the movie now.

Yet another early morning (6:45). I only set my watch alarm which doesn't have a "snooze" option...so when I wake up throughout the night I panic thinking I turned my alarm off and fell back asleep. I did that at 12:45am and 4:35am last night.

I checked out of the hostel and stopped at a small supermarket around the corner to get breakfast. A banana and some sort of roll for .60€...that's what I'm talking about! I walked right to the train station, no problem, and waited for my late again train. So annoying. It was even more annoying when that ten minute late train caused me to miss my connecting train to Fussen from Munich...which meant that 1. I had to sit at the train station for an hour and 2. My plans for seeing the castles were totally messed up, I was stressed out, angry, and annoyed, and 3. I learned to never, ever trust the trains and to always, always leave on or take a train earlier than I think I need to. Or just sleep in and eat a good breakfast because the train will be late anyway. Teleportation people. It's necessary. And it'd be okay because that hour round trip commute to work is an hour we will spend at the gym instead. It would actually be good for our health. Mind and body. Who's on it?!

The fresh snow was even prettier today than that of yesterday. On my second train ride, there were fields and fields of untouched, sparkling snow. Occasionally there were mysterious animal footprints. I imagined snowmobiling/4-wheeling with an attached sled for miles and miles, ruining its perfection but having a great time. :)

Some comfort for my dear mother: Elementary school children ride the trains/buses to/from school. Alone!

At 1, I arrived in Fussen. I immediately caught a bus to the castles from the Fussen train station. It was €2 and about ten minutes into the mountains. The bus was PACKED with school kids and I was super worried about field trips or something...but none of them got off at the castle stop, thank goodness.

I bought my tickets to the castles for student price...I think that really might mean 18 and younger, but hey, if I look the part I might as well play the part. Especially if there's no rule posted. Right? It only saved me €4...haha that's a lot. :) Both castles together cost me €21.

They give you start times for each castle, and mine were 13:55 for Hohenschwangau and 16:10 for Neuchwanstein. They make the times so far apart so you'll shop and eat aka spend money. Plus you have to go with a group that speaks all the same language. They seemed to have English and German and then audio guides for everyone else. Plus it's a ten minute walk to Hohenschwangau and a 30 minute hike to Neuschwanstein.

There were five others in my first tour group. In the summer, they take groups of 35 through. It was nice to have such a small group where we could ask questions and see everything up close. Hohenschwangau (hoh-en-shvan-gow) was mad Ludwig's father's castle. It sits quietly below the bigger and more extravagant Neuschwanstein. The original castle was built in the 12th century, but it was ruined by Napolean. Ludwig's father aka King Maximillian II rebuilt it in 1830. Ludwig grew up there (it was just their summer home-mostly for hunting), and so the tour talked about his young life and what not. They used it until 1912. The inside was covered with romantic paintings which totally inspired Ludwig. His mom is awesome..she was a woods women which was totally rare for the time period-especially for royalty! Ludwig became king at 18 1/2...he lived in Hohenschwangau for 17 years while he watched Neuschwanstein get built. The telescope he used to watch from afar was set up in the perfect position. The tour was a quick 30 minutes through the main rooms and then the queen's chambers and then the King's chambers. They each had a bedroom, dressing room, reading room, and writing room. It was really pretty! The outside is kind of weird because it's yellow with blue and white curtains, but it's still awesome. The castle gardens were snowed over but would be beautiful in the summer time.

Usually you can ride a shuttle up to above Neuschwanstein castle where the view is best, but of course the shuttle wasn't going today because of the snow. There is a horse carriage you can take to just below the castle for €6 which totally adds to the experience, but of course, I chose to walk. Neuschwanstein (noy-shvahn-stein) Castle is the ultimate fairy tale castle. It is high up in the mountains and has a spectacular view on one side and hugs the mountain on the other. It was designed by a theatre set designer first..then an architect which is why it's magical and majestic and fantasy like. It looks medieval but is only about as old as the Eiffel Tower. It was built from 1869-1886, and construction stopped when Ludwig mysteriously died at age 40. (He was found in a shallow creek the day after he was pronounced insane.) Ludwig was born 200 years too late or 100 years too early, but he really made his dreams come alive. He had the power so he built castles. What is so crazy about that?? If he's crazy then all the tourists visiting all his castles are crazy. Haha I don't actually believe that...only cause pictures of him give me the creeps and because his brother was said to be insane at like age 14. So insane that he couldn't inherit the throne when Ludwig died which is why his uncle did. Their mother must have been on drugs during her pregnancies or something.

I snuck some pictures inside Neuschwanstein Castle because our tour group consisted of about 50 people so I could get away with it. The outside of the castle was under construction which totally and completely sucked, but I'm still glad I got to go and see it. I will upload pictures of what it's supposed to look like (not under construction and from the awesome viewpoint) and those that don't read this novel won't even know the difference!! ;) I want to watch Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty so bad now! Not only is the outside of Neuschwanstein the inspiration but also the inside!! I wish I could see the castles in working order with servants and royal people and classical music. It's just too hard to imagine it. I can't believe that could ever be normal life.

I got back to Fussen a little before 8 and was just about starved. I found a grocery store and bought some carrots, oranges, bananas, and treats for my travel day tomorrow, and then I got a delicious sandwich for dinner. I headed to my hostel: LA House (LA does not stand for Los Angeles). This is the scariest hostel I've been in. It's an old house with three sets of bunk beds per room. It's in a dark alley and I kinda sorta maybe a little bit totally booked it from the street to the hostel with my karate chops ready. Obviously I made it fine :)

I have been hanging out in the common room with one of the workers who is from South Africa and two Chinese dudes. I have been helping one of the Chinese dudes learn English...it's been very entertaining :) The South African recognized Utah as the Mormon State. So proud! The Chinese guy likes my accent but the South African thinks that Americans sound unintellectual. Which we do...especially compared to him!

Tomorrow I have a whole day of traveling from Fussen to Interlaken. Yay.